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The challenges and strengths of Palestine’s ‘orchestra’ of civil resistance | Waging Nonviolence

This article was first published by Waging Nonviolence in collaboration with the Peace Science Digest, which summarizes and reflects on current academic research in the field of peace and conflict studies.

Contrary to widespread stereotypes regarding the nature of Palestinian resistance, there has long been a tradition of unarmed civil resistance against Israeli occupation — a tradition renewed with Israel’s construction of the so-called “separation barrier” (a.k.a. “apartheid wall” [Palestinians] or “security fence” [Israelis]) that separates many West Bank Palestinian villages from their lands and livelihoods. Israeli and international activists frequently join Palestinians during anti-wall protests and actions, with a steady flow of new activists coming and going through the West Bank on a weekly or monthly basis. How does this in-flow/out-flow of diverse activists shape the possibilities for anti-occupation activism? In particular, how are identities — and the various forms of power and privilege that accompany them — negotiated in the effort to create a coordinated civil resistance movement?